I spent all of yesterday and last night at Gillian's apartment over on the other side of town, so I didn't have a chance to write anything. We had an amazing time though, and wrote THE BEST EMAIL EVER. When I get Gill to send it to me, I'll put it up here, because it was incredible.
2. Love
I don't like writing about people in love, which is one of the major reasons why I don't write. Every story I've ever read has had some kind of romance in it, and in every group of people you can look around and see that at least one of the people in the room has found someone to give their heart to. When I try to reflect that, all I end up with is a handful of old cliches and metaphors I've pulled out of the literary scrap pile. I've never been in love, beyond the usual heart-shredding unrequited and pathetic variety, which isn't something I really want to write about either. Sometimes, I wish the world didn't have as much requited love as it does. Maybe then I could write a realistic book.
3. Light
Beautiful lighting can almost totally redeem a movie for me. The movie could be about wigger leprechauns going on a roadtrip involving wacky adventures across the United States to save the president from a horde of vampiric werewolves with gum disease, but as long as there's one shot with the light from purple, pink, orange, blue and green Illinois winter sunset washing over the road in front of their car, making it glimmer through the softly shadowed jade-green cornfields like a stream stretching into the distance, it'll be my favorite movie of the year.